Content addressable memory (CAM) testing tends to be more time consuming than conventional memory testing due to the additional tests needed to confirm proper match and mismatch operation in each storage location. In typical single-bit mismatch testing, for example, each bit in each storage row of the CAM device is tested in a respective compare operation to confirm that inequality between search data and the bit under test will yield a row mismatch result and thus involves a number of compare operations according to the CAM density (i.e., number of CAM cells in the CAM device). Consequently, test times have escalated with CAM densities to the point of becoming a production bottleneck.